The Change in the Partners
by WritingxEqualsxHappiness
Summary: Another conversation between Booth and Brennan, mostly because these things are so much fun to write. Oneshot.
1. Chapter 1

**And here is another short conversation taking place a few weeks after the season finale in Brennan's kitchen, because it's a whole lot of fun writing these.**

**Disclaimer: Haha, I wish.**

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><p><strong><span>The Change in the Partners<span>**

The moment he walked through the door of her apartment, Brennan knew the meeting had gone badly. Booth set his keys on the table beside the door deliberately and sat at the counter while she paused in her sandwich-making. He folded his arms on the surface and let his head hang for a while before he said anything.

"Hacker dissolved our partnership," he muttered at last. She put the knife down in disappointment.

"I'm sorry," she told him. It was the only thing she could think to say to him. She never was very good at having emotional conversations, and she knew that this would be one of them.

"I feel... like I did something wrong," he admitted quietly. She thought it would make him feel better if she rubbed his shoulder, so she walked around the counter and did. He was very tense.

"The FBI's rules and regulations will not change for us, Booth," she said. "We should not expect Andrew to make an exception based only on the fact that working together we have the highest solve rate in the country."

"I know," he sighed, picking his head up finally to stare at her sandwich. "I guess I just hoped he would reconsider because it's us, you know? We're good together."

"We can still be good together outside of work," she pointed out, continuing to run her hands along his shoulders. "One of the lessons you've taught me is that we shouldn't let our jobs rule our lives." His muscles finally relaxed a bit and he turned in the stool to face her.

"I don't remember saying that."

"It was implied," she allowed. Booth stood up and hugged her close.

"Does this mean my lab card won't work anymore?" he wondered.

"Most likely," she told him. "I can discuss it with Cam; perhaps she would allow you in the lab but not on the platform with the evidence."

Booth squeezed her a little and then let go so she could finish making her sandwich, a small smile on her lips.

"We're not going to name the baby Andrew, right?" he checked with a wrinkled nose.

"I admit that I am against naming our child after anyone we've ever known," Brennan said. "I don't want to look at him and think of another person." Booth was quiet for a few seconds.

"What are we going to do now?" he asked sadly.

"We will adapt. Just as we have done in the past."

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><p><strong>So? What did you think? Leave a review please!<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**I decided to add another chapter because this felt unfinished. Someone said in a review that Booth and Brennan would not just let their partnership be dissolved without doing something to change Hacker's decision or going above him to stay together. My explanation for their lack of resistance is that they are both logical people and are aware of the FBI's rules about relationships between partners (which are there because it's very hard to do that kind of job correctly when the person you love is possibly in a life or death situation a few feet away) and they realize that those rules are there for a very good reason and respect that. I don't have any problems with other people who write them being kept together or forming their own agency, but this is how I think they would react.**

**In this snippet of their lives, it is a few weeks after the first chapter and they find that it is not as easy to adapt to the new situation as they thought it would be. Of course, hormones don't help either.**

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><p><strong><span>The Change in the Partners Part Two<span>**

The moment the door to her apartment opened, Brennan nearly ran to him.

"Whoa, Bones!" he exclaimed in surprise as he took her into his arms for her kiss. "What's wrong?"

"I am finding that it is not easy to be away from you for extended periods of time," she answered breathlessly. Booth stepped forward so he could close the door and drop his keys on the table next to it. "Angela says it's due to pregnancy hormones and I think that I agree with her."

"You've gone days without seeing me between cases before," he tried to reason. Her behavior was a little strange to him.

"I have a better explanation than Angela's for that," she told him, suddenly serious. "While I was more capable of dealing with your absences earlier in our partnership, we weren't romantically involved then. I would normally ignore these worries, but in our current situation I find that difficult. I think I worry more about your safety now that I'm not with you when you have to be in potentially dangerous circumstances. This is all completely illogical, of course. The effects of pregnancy hormones are stronger than I anticipated."

"You're allowed to worry, Bones," Booth assured her. "But you don't have to because I have Agent Shaw following me around like a lost puppy."

"I thought you didn't like her."

"She starts to grow on you after a while," he said.

"I don't like Andrew any longer," Brennan said. "I thought it would be easier than this to work without you. While I enjoy the return to the basis of my career at the Jeffersonian, authenticating skeletons doesn't offer as much excitement as forensic cases. And I only get to see you at home and sometimes for lunch."

"I miss you too, Bones. But I'd rather not have the woman I love, who also happens to be the mother of my child, jumping into the kind of stuff we used to jump into. I'm going to make a deal with you," Booth declared. "I will meet you for lunch at the diner every single day until maternity leave."

"That's probably not the best idea," she told him. "What if you have to interrogate a suspect in a national emergency? The FBI would not appreciate you leaving in the middle of an important case to eat pie in the diner."

"Okay, I'll leave some exceptions," Booth compromised. "I'll meet you for lunch every day unless there is a national emergency."

"I could shake on that," she said.

"I'd rather kiss on it." Booth kissed her soundly and they both smiled when they parted. Brennan's face quickly morphed into an expression of alarm and she rushed back to the kitchen before Booth could ask why.

"I forgot the macaroni and cheese!"

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><p><strong>So? What did you think? Tell me in a review please!<strong>


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